In order to arrive at more representative weekly earnings for pieceworkers, who would naturally have no fixed weekly rate of pay, the actual earnings of this class of workers were obtained for three weeks. In all such cases where three weeks' earnings were secured the individual earnings have been divided by three in order to reduce them to a weekly basis for ready comparison.

The information here presented shows conditions existing in October, 1912, but it is of utmost importance to understand that the data also represent to a very considerable degree the conditions existing in 1915, as shown by a supplementary inquiry made by this Bureau in February, 1915, covering the same establishments considered in 1912.1

As the nature of the industries forming the basis of this study was somewhat diversified, the statistical results are presented in three main groups: (1) Paper Box Making; (2) Envelope Making; and (3) Other Paper Products.

The term "paper box factory" as used in this report includes not only those manufacturing establishments which are devoted exclusively to making paper boxes, such as candy and shoe boxes, folding boxes, etc., but also the factories engaged primarily in producing other goods and carrying on the manufacture of paper boxes in connection with their main work, such as shoe factories, candy factories, wooden box factories, etc. From the latter group of establishments data were obtained for those departments only in which the processes connected with the making of paper boxes were carried on.

The term "envelope factory" refers to factory departments engaged solely in the manufacture of envelopes. Data for the departments of these establishments occupied in making paper boxes or other paper goods have been tabulated under those particular industries.

1 The result of this inquiry showed that the general factory conditions as related to earnings and hours of labor of employees had not materially changed since the investigation in 1912. Special increases in wages in the case of employees showing an increased proficiency, or increases naturally coming from length of service, may tend to make pay-rolls a little higher from year to year this is always a possible factor in any period of years - but, making allowance for these tendencies, they would appear to affect only slightly the general results shown in this report.

Of the 170 different factories covered in this inquiry 95, or 55.9 per cent, employing 5,594, or 45.8 per cent of the total number of wage-earners considered, reported no general change whatever in wages or hours of labor of their employees during the period reviewed. Only 29 mills, or 17.1 per cent, employing an aggregate of 3,884 wageearners, reported increases of varying amounts in wages since 1912, benefiting 2,511, or 64.6 per cent of their employees.

As to changes in hours of labor during the period in question, certain manufacturers reported some curtailment. It is quite probable, however, that under normal business conditions but slight variations from the general results shown in this report would be observed in the schedules of working hours in these mills. By the provisions of Chapter 831, Section 8, Acts of 1913, which became effective September 1, 1913, minors under 16 years of age were prohibited from working in factories and certain other establishments for more than 48 hours in any one week and in other respects their hours of labor were also regulated. Certain establishments considered in this report found it necessary, in conformity with the provision cited, either to reduce the hours of labor of such minors employed by them or to replace them with older workers.

The term "other paper products factory" is applied to those establishments engaged in the manufacture of divers paper goods, such as labels, tags, bags, cups, cones, tubes, tubs, blank books, writing tablets and pads, stationery (not including envelopes), library supplies, calendars, valentines, paper novelties, wall paper, waterproof paper, etc.

It should be borne in mind that this presentation does not take account of rates of wages, i.e., the amount of money paid to an employee for a specified period of time, if on time-work, or for a specified quantity of work, if on piece-work, but shows the actual earnings, that is, the sum actually received by the employees, whether they were employed full time or not, in the representative week for which the data were taken from the pay-rolls of the mills by the agents of this Bureau.

The material as secured from the pay-rolls has been tabulated in detail form in a series of general tables classified by occupations and follows the text of this report. Considerable difficulty was encountered in connection with the classification of occupations owing to the fact that many occupations are known by different names in the several mills, and in some establishments the managers were unable to state exact names of a few of the occupations. The occupations for which data have been tabulated have, however, been selected as representative of the industry. This detailed information has also been summarized for use in connection with the following text discussion.

The statistics herein presented were gathered from 170 establishments and cover 12,203 wage-earners of whom 5,924 were engaged in the manufacture of paper boxes, 2,532 in envelope making, and 3,747 in the manufacture of other paper products. According to the common use of the word "wage-earners", office clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, superintendents, etc., do not rightfully come under this designation, and for this reason data relative to wages and hours of labor of such persons employed by the above establishments were not included in this report.

For the three groups of industries considered collectively, the average weekly earnings of the 4,848 male wage-earners employed in the different establishments, regardless of occupation or of time worked, were found to be $13.04 as compared with an average of $13.30 for the 57.0 per cent of these male employees who earned full-time pay during the representative week for which pay-rolls were copied. The corresponding averages for the 7,2491 female employees, 43.9 per cent of whom worked full time, were $7.37 a week for all females as compared with $7.59 for those working full time. These average earnings included the wages of 1,542 children

1 Not including 106 wage-earners for whom information concerning individual earnings was not available for the reason that they paid their own assistants from their earnings as recorded on the manufacturers' pay-rolls.

(357 boys and 1,185 girls) under 16 years of age. To what extent these minors have depressed the general average earnings is a factor of some interest. By eliminating the data for minors under 16 years of age the result shows that the average weekly earnings of all males 16 years of age and over were $13.63, which was greater by 59 cents than the corresponding rate for all males, while the average earnings of females 16 years of age and over were $7.80, which was greater by 43 cents than the corresponding rate for all females.

The highest average earnings for male employees in any one of the groups of industries considered were $14.54 in the envelope making industry, while the box making industry revealed the highest average earnings ($7.61) for female employees.

It should be noted that the term "average earnings ", as used throughout this report, does not express the average earnings of employees as individuals, but the average earnings for all wage-earners in the industry in a representative week. Where groups contain large numbers of employees the tabulation of classified earnings fairly represents the amounts usually earned by the different classes of employees.

The significance of average weekly earnings paid to the employees must be judged to a certain extent in its relation to the average hours actually worked in a representative week by these employees. This average of hours actually worked by all male employees, regardless of occupations, was found to be 54.2, a figure very closely corresponding to the average customary hours1 (54.4) which prevailed in the different mills when operating under normal conditions. Similar computations made for all female employees resulted in the following averages: 50.1, actual hours, as compared with 53.3, customary hours.

As the highest average earnings for all male employees were found in the envelope industry, so in this industry were also found the highest average hours (54.8) actually worked by male employees. This industry also showed the maximum average actual hours of labor (51) for females.

1 The terms "customary working time" and "customary hours" as used in this report mean the regular fulltime hours, while the term "actual hours" means the number of hours actually worked in the representative week for which pay-rolls were obtained in this inquiry.

II.

NATURE OF DATA AND METHOD OF PRESENTATION.

1. LOCATION OF ESTABLISHMENTS MANUFACTURING PAPER

PRODUCTS.

The following record shows the distribution, by districts and municipalities in the Commonwealth, of the number of establishments engaged in manufacturing paper products covered by this investigation.

The establishments are quite widely scattered over the State; what concentration there is in the industry is found in Eastern Massachusetts. Of the 170 establishments included in the above classification there were 21, in each of which were manufactured more than one of the three classes of products treated, for statistical purposes, as a separate industry in this report. To facilitate, therefore, the comparison between similar occupations, it was deemed advisable to separate the information relative to wages and hours of the employees in these 21 establishments according

to departments and to tabulate it under its specific industry. Accordingly, five of the establishments are represented in each of the three industries and 16 of them in each of two industries, making in all 196 distinct departments represented in the inquiry.

2. GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF THE LABOR FORCE.

In order that a greater individuality of treatment might be afforded, the labor force engaged in the manufacture of paper products has been considered as consisting of three groups: (1) Productive occupations, (2) General occupations in the producing departments, and (3) Power, mechanical, and yard force.

(1) Productive occupations are those peculiar to the manufacture of the several kinds of paper products studied. The work of this group is specialized to a certain extent so that the skilled or the semi-skilled workers are dependent to a considerable degree upon this special industry for employment. The largest proportion of wage-earners naturally falls within this group.

(2) General occupations are those not closely connected with the productive processes, but which are necessary in order to secure successful operation in the producing departments. This class includes stock clerks, laborers, printers, packers, shippers, etc. The duties attached to these occupations, in the majority of cases, are not peculiar to the manufacture of paper products, but might be found as well in any other industry.

(3) The power, mechanical, and yard force is chiefly concerned with keeping in proper working condition the various appliances and machines used in the process of manufacture, in operating the engines which furnish power to the entire plant, and in transportation of materials and of finished product.

To secure, further, a proper understanding of the labor situation in the industry, the data regarding wages and hours of labor have been classified with regard to time-workers and piece-workers. Of the 12,203 wageearners considered in this investigation, 4,950, or 40.6 per cent, were piece-workers and 7,253, or 59.4 per cent, were time-workers. The proportion of piece-workers was much greater among women than among

men.

The following table shows the relative importance, as to numbers, of the various classes of employees in the three different industry groups.